Master beekeeper Ellen Zampino of Riverside removes beeswax from a frame before putting the honeycombs into a honey extractor during a honey-harvesting demonstration at Audubon Greenwich, Saturday morning, July 24, 2010. less

Master beekeeper Ellen Zampino of Riverside removes beeswax from a frame before putting the honeycombs into a honey extractor during a honey-harvesting demonstration at Audubon Greenwich, Saturday morning, July ... more

"The bee doesn't want to sting you, because it knows it's going to die," he said. "The bee puts its stinger in you, but it stays there and, when the bee pulls away, the stinger stays but it's still attached to the bee and it rips out its intestines."

Instead, it's the actions of what a bee perceives to be a threat that causes a bee to attack, the beekeeper said.

Brown, along with other members of the Back Yard Beekeepers Association, demonstrated honey-making and educated about the winged insects at the Native and Honey Bee Day on Saturday at the Audubon Greenwich Center on Riversville Road.

The approximately 250-member association is drawn primarily from Fairfield County with some members coming from Westchester County.

If he wears protective clothing, doesn't rush and checks the hive either later in the day or earlier in the morning, Brown said there is little chance of a sting during those periods because bees are more placid.

But if he ignores the precautions, bees can strike, he said. If four or five bees sting, it's time to leave, Brown said. That's because other bees will be attracted to the banana-like smell of the multiple stingers. That odor is an indication to bees there is a threat nearby and other bees will race to attack the threat.

On one of the hottest days of the year so far, dozens of people trooped into the Old Red Barn, otherwise known as the Ketay-Asnes Family Barn, at the Audubon.

Among those were Danielle and Trevor Fox of Armonk, N.Y., and their two young children Simon and Laurel.

The Aududon Greenwich members are fascinated by bees.

"They are important for us and they are also just so interesting, the way they cooperate in the hives," Danielle said.

They bought a jar of honey that had been taken off a frame -- a board placed in hives on which bees form their honeycombs -- Saturday afternoon.

It was a family-centered day as children excitedly dipped index fingers into the honey to get a taste.

Jonathan Mark from Glenville brought along his three children -- Christopher, Brandon and Alexandra -- to learn more about bees and honey production.

"They're interested in bees and Audubon always has something interesting to offer," he said. Christopher, who was a little shy, said he read about bees and wanted to learn more.

The frames are placed in a radial extractor, a hand-cranked barrel that uses centrifugal force to draw out honey from the tiny cells in the frame.

After passing through a strainer that collects wax and other small items, the honey pours out from an exit in the bottom of the extractor and is collected in a bucket to be bottled.

Thousands of bees work together to protect the queen bee and produce honey, in an amazing example of cooperation, Brown said.

"As many as 60,000 of them work together and it's all to serve the queen bee," he said.

That cooperation extends to the extremes. Bees will forgo eating and starve to death, as they attempt to keep the queen bee warm during a cold spell in winter, he said.

Brown, a Greenwich resident had been bothered for years by allergies caused by pollen in the spring.

He learned the body can develop immunity to it by eating local honey and the pollen collected by bees. That clinched it for him and four years ago he produced his own honey.

"That first batch of 13 jars was just phenomenal," he remembered with a smile. "It was great to learn abut the hives, working with the bees and in a small way helping them." The jars are one pound each.

His health has also improved as springtime allergies are now a distant memory, he said.

His production has increased to about 300 pounds of honey per year, most of which he gives to friends or acquaintances.